Introducing...

Kayden Grace

February 4, 2013

2:11pm

6lbs 7oz, 19 3/4"

So?  Who guessed everything correctly on the poll? :D

Kayden's birth was quite a bit different from Levi's.  With Levi, we waited and waited and waited.  He was late and born at 41w2d.  Kayden was a scheduled c-section at 38 weeks.  While I was uncomfortable for the last trimester this time, I never did get that truly FULL feeling that I got when we were waiting for Levi.  (Apparently 2 lbs and 2" of baby makes a big difference on the inside!)  And with Levi, we were guessing the gender right to the end, whereas this time we've known about our little GIRL since September.  Both experiences were good...I'd probably choose to repeat this most recent experience next time, though, if given the choice!


I wasn't sure how going in for a scheduled section would be.  It's kinda weird knowing exactly what day and time to expect your little one to arrive.  There was some excitement last time in wondering day by day if I would have a baby that day (then extremely discouraging when I never did go into labour on my own).  On the morning of Feb 4, we had a regular morning, packed up the last of our things, and headed off to the city.  We only had to be at the hospital at 11:30 so there was no rush.  We met Nathan's parents in the city, had a relaxed coffee with them at Starbucks, said "see ya later!" to Levi and drove to the hospital. 

In the first waiting room, there were half a dozen pregnant women waiting (in a 200 square foot closet of a waiting room).  At one point everyone was sharing how far along they were.  40 weeks...41 weeks...44 weeks...  Most of the women there were waiting for inductions!  I didn't dare open my mouth and say that I was still at a comfy 38 weeks and would likely be holding my baby before any of them!  We were quickly moved to another waiting room where we ended up waiting for an hour with no contact with anyone and no one else in the room with us.  We felt quite forgotten.  After an hour, I was starting to wonder if we'd been forgotten.  Why, afterall, would they have us come in 2 hours before the scheduled c-section time if we were going to spend over an hour just sitting and waiting?  I went and found a nurse and within 15 minutes, we were in the pre-op room in gown/scrubs and being prepped for surgery.

Around 1:30 I was taken to the OR and given a spinal then prepped for surgery.  It all went pretty fast from there.  The anesthesiologist gave my doctor the ok to start and Nathan was brought in.  Within minutes, Kayden was here!  She spent the first 5 minutes SCREAMING!  She has the most high-pitched shrill scream I've ever heard.  Well, not quite, but it really is quite different from Levi's cry!  I was able to have her on my chest in the OR as the doctor finished up and was able to feed her in recovery within about an hour.  What a blessing.  I feel like it went so much more smoothly than it did with Levi.  Scheduled c-sections are much easier on the body than last minute c-sections after 12 hours of labour.  Just saying...

We were able to come home on day 2 after surgery, exactly 48 hours after her birth I was walking in the front door at home.  SO NICE that they let us come home earlier this time!  Nursing has gone smoothly.  Healing has gone smoothly.  I'm almost back to my pre-pregnancy self.  Except, of course, for some tenderness in certain places and having a newborn around the house again.  Everything has come back as far as what to do with a newborn (whew!).  The transition has been nothing but smooth.  Nathan was home for the first week and now my mom will be here for a few days, followed by my sister.  Levi is loving all the extra play-time!  And I'm appreciating being able to take it easy and have afternoon naps.  Every little bit helps with the healing and adjusting process!

Levi has adjusted to being a big brother wonderfully.  He was a bit unsure at first and didn't want to touch her, but within a couple days at home he was wanting to hold her and go get diapers for me and lay on the floor beside her.  He has been so good...

And that's my story!  I figured I should probably let my blogging friends know that she's arrived and all is well before people start wondering.  Oh, and I'll also let you know that she is the most content baby.  She sleeps SO much more than Levi did and is quite quiet, though she's starting to find her voice again after a few nearly silent days in the first week.  Aside from the first night at home, she has been up 2-3 times at night to eat which hardly feels like an adjustment from what I was doing with Levi a mere 3 months ago...not that he was eating, but disrupting my sleep just the same!  But it is all worth it.  I look at my kids and husband every day and thank God for my beautiful family.  I feel blessed beyond what I could ever imagine :)

What to wear?

Nathan's grad is coming up and I have been wracking my brain trying to come up with something to wear.  I went through my closet this afternoon to see if any of my current "formal wear" would work.  Here's what I found:

This is the oldest dress that I currently own.  I got it 9 years ago for my sister's and boyfriends' high school grad.  Besides just being quite out of style by now, I'm going to have to veto it for the sheer awkwardness of having worn it to my boyfriend-at-the-time's grad.  Yes, it was my sister's grad too...no, that doesn't make it less awkward...

The next dress I got was for my own grad a year later: 2003.  I think I'm going to have to say no to this one too, not because I don't still look smokin' in it, but because it seems just a tad impractical.  See, the whole dress is studded with little shards of glass pretty sparklies that would rip the skin off my dear son's body if I tried to carry him while wearing it.  And I do imagine that I will be on mommy-duty at least part of the day, despite both grandmas being present at the event!

What do you think about this one?  No?  Ok.  Moving on...

I got this one for my brother's high school grad back in 2005.  It's ok.  It fits well.  It's not horribly out of style.  Unfortunately, the whole not-being-able-to-wear-anything-supportive thing becomes an issue with this one (if you know what I mean).  TMI?  Sorry.  Let's just leave this one at "I don't think it's going to work."

Yeah!  Now we're talking!  I believe the correct term for the colour of this dress is "hottest pink".  This was a fun one to wear while in my best friends' bridal party in '08.  And it might just work for a California grad.  What do you think, people?  Should I bust out the "hottest pink" evening gown for an afternoon grad on campus?  You're right.  I wouldn't want to upstage any of the actual graduates.  Better keep looking...

Now honestly, when I started trying on dresses this afternoon, I left this one for last because I thought it would probably be my best option.  I got it for Nathan's sister's wedding in 2008 but, I kid you not, it was the only dress that I couldn't zip up all the way.  There was a good 6" between where the zipper halves should have met and where the zipper halves actually were.  To be fair, it never did fit perfectly and I had to work pretty hard to get the zipper all the way up even when it was new.  But 6 INCHES?!  Wow...

So what do I do now?  You have all seen first-hand that nothing in my closet will be appropriate for this event.  I guess there is only one thing left to do...go shopping!  That is, unless anyone has anything that they would like to lend me?

Question of the Day...and a Prayer Request

I have a question for anyone who lives in or around Saskatoon, Sk.  Where is the place to eat Chinese food?  It needs to be good quality, have a great taste, and be reasonably priced.   And it doesn't need to be in the city.  I'm game for a wild goose chase to small towns nearby...

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On an entirely different note, Nathan and I became first time Uncle and Auntie this week.  Nathan's sister and brother-in-law, K&J, has their twins on Tuesday, April 20.  They are two beautiful little girls (from the pictures I've seen) but they were born at 35 weeks.  They are small (5 lbs 10 oz, and 5 lbs 3 oz, I think) and have been having a bit of trouble adjusting to the big, scary world outside of mommy's tummy.  Avery Joy was released from the NICU today, but Lexie Anayah has been having more trouble.  She is still in the NICU and her mommy & daddy haven't been able to hold her yet.  Please pray for the whole family, but especially that Lexie's little body will experience healing so that she can be with her family too.  Thanks.

Lennox's Birthday!

It's Lennox's birthday today!  He's four!  Our puppy is all grown up.  We can't wait to see him again...

These are some pictures from our little "birthday celebration" last year.  I can't believe that was only a year ago...feels like forever.  For the whole story, click HERE.

Rob Bell Live

Seeing Rob Bell last night was alot of fun.  It was quite a small venue (couldn't have been more than 500 people there) and we were in the fourth row from the front, so it really felt like a small church service or something.  Except it was pretty different from church.  Haha.  Nathan and I hadn't read his latest book yet, but Nathan bought the coffee table version half an hour before the show started and we managed to read the whole thing!  It's really not a long read. 

After seeing Rob in LA back in 2007, I thought I would feel kind of like we'd been there, done that.  But it was SO different in a small venue, like I mentioned earlier.  He really engages with the audience alot more when there are less than 1000 people there.  Not that 2007 was bad in LA.  He is still an amazing speaker, no matter how many people there are...but there's something about that more personal contact that makes it fun.

Rob Bell spoke on his newest book, Drops Like Stars.  It talks alot about pain and why bad things happen and how those bad things shape us.  A point that stuck out to Nathan and I was how pain can either make us bitter or better.  It really had us looking at whether our struggle with infertility has made us bitter or better.  At points, I/we have certainly been bitter, but overall, I would have to go with better.  Our faith has been refined through this like it would never have been if we'd just gotten pregnant right away.  And while I'd rather already have a babe or two in our home, I AM glad for how God has been working and shaping us and will continue to shape us into who He desires for us to be.

We drove 1 3/4 hours to get to the show and with it only starting at 8pm, it ended up being a late night.  We got out of there (with our signed copies of books and anti-Rob Bell propaganda) just after 10pm, went and picked up our friends' daughter who was being watched by her grandparents and arrived home at 12:30.  Now that wouldn't have been too late a night if we'd been able to get ready for bed right away.  But we hadn't cleaned the student center yet.  We hoped it would only take 10 minutes to quickly tidy up, but we were WRONG.  45 minutes later it was 1:15am and we were done, and TIRED. Poor Nathan had an 8:30 class this morning.  I, on the other hand, enjoyed my freedom and slept until 9:30.  Aah.  When else in life will I be able to do this?

So overall, a good evening was had by all.  Lots of jokes about heresy and how we couldn't be seen coming out of a place like that, lest someone from the seminary saw us. (Rob Bell gets alot of criticism thrown at him...as we were standing outside in line, waiting to get in, we were all handed a "Rob Bell is a heretic" informational postcard with sadly out-of-context quotes from his books...we proceeded to get this postcard signed by Rob Bell himself which made him laugh)

Not much on the menu for today.  Nathan is still in class...I still haven't showered, so I will do that before too long and get ready for the day.  Then who knows...  Hope you all have a wonderful day! 

Fall Retreat

This past weekend was the annual fall retreat for our school. It was out in the mountains, about a 1 1/2 - 2 hour drive from here. It was a beautiful drive, that is, if you could actually take your eyes off the road. I had my eyes glued to the narrow winding road in a desperate attempt to not get sick. I am such a prairie girl when it comes to mountain roads. But once we were up at the camp, I enjoyed the trees, mountains, and silence.

My favorite part of the weekend was when I hiked up to "Inspiration Point". It's about a 10 minute hike up from the camp to a lookout where you can see mountains all the way around you.

I went up there Sunday morning while everyone else was having breakfast. I was the only one up there, so I spent an hour taking some pictures and just sitting there soaking it all in. I sang a bit and prayed a bit and left so very re-charged. Being in nature and silence (without sirens and tires squealing and bass and general traffic noise) is something that I love and need. If only driving through the mountains to get there wasn't such an ordeal!

The cabins were quite a shock, though. I knew that I shouldn't have been expecting much, but I don't remember the last time I could see daylight through the walls of the place I was going to sleep. It wasn't a question of if there were mice and spiders in our room...it was how many mice and spiders there were. Neither Nathan nor I wanted to sleep across the room from each other, so we ended up sleeping together on one of the twin beds. I can't say that we'd ever done that before. But it actually worked well, and we both got a decent night's sleep!

Oh, and there were lizards all over the rocks while I was up at the point. When I sat still for a few minutes, they came out all around me and were sunning themselves on the rocks. So cool.